Zeffie Tilbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury (November 20, 1863 – July 24, 1950) was an English actress.
Tilbury was known first on the London stage and on Broadway in New York City. In 1881, she debuted on stage in Nine Points of the Law at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, England.
She is today best known for playing wise or evil older characters in films, such as the distinguished lady gambler at dinner with Garbo in The Single Standard, as the pitiful Grandma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath and Grandma Lester in Tobacco Road.
She appeared in over 70 films. Her earliest surviving silent film is the Valentino / Nazimova 1921 production of Camille. Tilbury is probably best remembered as the old lady who is befriended by Spanky and his friends on her birthday and, as a result, is transformed from a lonely, disagreeable recluse to a happy and loving carefree soul in the 1936 Hal Roach Our Gang comedy Second Childhood. In the same year she also portrayed the Gypsy Queen in the Laurel and Hardy film The Bohemian Girl.
Tilbury was married twice. First to Arthur Frederick Lewis in June, 1887, and later to L. E. Woodthorpe, who died on April 8, 1915. She died in Los Angeles, California in 1950 at the age of 86.
Acting
Movie
The Grapes of Wrath
as Grandma Joad
1940
Movie
After the Thin Man
as Aunt Lucy (uncredited)
1936
Movie
Werewolf of London
as Mrs. Moncaster
1935
Movie
Camille
as Old Duchess Bidding 3750 Francs
1936
Movie
Tobacco Road
as Grandma Lester
1941
Movie
Alice Adams
as Mrs. Dresser (uncredited)
1935
Movie
The Bohemian Girl
as Gypsy Queen
1936
Movie
Desire
as Aunt Olga
1936
Movie
Marie Antoinette
as Dowager at Birth of Dauphin (uncredited)
1938
Movie
Anthony Adverse
as Old Woman at Chalet
1936
Movie
The Last Days of Pompeii
as The Wise Woman (uncredited)
1935
Movie
Camille
as Prudence
1921
Movie
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
as Mrs. Sanders
1939
Movie
Bulldog Drummond Escapes
as Drunk in Jail Cell
1937
Movie
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
as Mrs. Weevens
1938
Movie
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back
as Zeffie
1937
Movie
The Gorgeous Hussy
as Mrs. Daniel Beall
1936
Movie
It Happened in Hollywood
as Miss Gordon
1937
Movie
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
as Aunt Meg
1938
Movie
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
as The Opium Woman
1935
Movie
Lady of the Tropics
as Woman Congratulating Manon
1939
Movie
Mystery Liner
as Granny Plimpton
1934
Movie
Public Hero Number 1
as Deaf Woman in Scottsdale Bar (uncredited)
1935
Movie
Parnell
as Old Lady
1937